Instructional Series
Welcome to the English medium literacy instructional series teaching and learning resources for years 1 to 8.
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Search results
116 items - Showing 91 - 100
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The Weird Zone
by Sacha Cotter
illustrations by Kirsten Slade
“We’ve been tracking Dad’s weirdness for months.”
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Endurance
by Paul Mason
This book recounts the incredible survival story that followed Ernest Shackleton’s failed attempt to cross Antarctica in 1914. After his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and later crushed by ice, Shackleton and his crew were stranded on the ice for five months before travelling in lifeboats to Elephant Island. A small group then sailed on to South Georgia and trekked through glaciers and over mountains to eventually find help.
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Ghost Walk
by Renata Hopkins, illustrations by Rosie Colligan
Grumpa wants to take a walk, but the narrator has other ideas. Grumpa wins, and the pair tour Christchurch’s Red Zone, where the narrator learns to see what’s no longer there – and ways we can preserve the past.
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Want Relief
by Paul Mason, illustrations by Andrew Burdan
The Auckland Islands, a New Zealand territory in the Southern Ocean, were the site of nine shipwrecks in the nineteenth century. Paul Mason uses this as a starting point for his fictional story about Nell, who becomes a castaway with several others and must play her part in keeping their precious fire going.
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Changing Lives: The Omeo Story
by Lucy Corry
Kevin Halsall is an engineer and inventor who likes to solve problems. Over a four-year period, he designed and built the Omeo: a ground-breaking mobility device that gives people much greater freedom than a traditional wheelchair. In this article, Kevin discusses his motivation and design process, and his friend Marcus shares the impact the Omeo has had on his life.
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A Mugging in Maths
by Cassandra Tse, illustrations by Josh Morgan
This classroom mystery is solved by Ruby, a student who loves detective novels and who has honed her skills through reading. The author delights in mysteries and plays – and works both forms to their advantage.
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The Polterheist
by James Brown, illustrations by Josh Morgan
“The Polterheist” is a comic story, deftly handled and with a tight focus, spinning great entertainment from a context many students will recognise – a school gala day. It provides a good model for student writing: taking the everyday and exploring its imaginative possibilities, with closely observed characterisation and a heavy reliance on dialogue to move the plot forward.
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Born to Run
by Lucy Corry
Arthur Lydiard was a New Zealand runner and athletics coach whose approach to training has left a lasting impact on the sporting world. Using speed and endurance-building techniques that he developed through trial and error, Lydiard coached several high-performance runners to Olympic success. A firm believer that anyone could be a champion, Lydiard played an important role in popularising jogging in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. “Born to Run” includes a profile of Lilly Taulelei, a year 10 student who has played for the New Zealand basketball team. She was also selected for an Asia-Pacific basketball team that played at the Global Championships in 2019. She shares her thoughts about what makes a good coach.
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Roar
by Kathryn Mercer
Hunting is hugely popular in New Zealand’s rural communities, and it’s often done within families. This article will be welcome reading for students who already hunt, giving them the opportunity to share their knowledge with classmates. Those unfamiliar with the past-time are introduced to the basics, especially the “why” of hunting and the different skills and pleasures involved.
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Trouble in the Foodlands
by Johanna Knox, illustrations by Toby Morris
This detective story is another instalment in the Minnie Sharp series, the only continued storyline at this level. The distinctive tone – hard-boiled detective noir – ensures the story has an entertaining surface, and this is matched with an equally satisfying plot: Minnie is required to solve conflict in the Foodlands, the main farming district on Mars. The character, setting, voice, and themes will be familiar to those who’ve met Minnie Sharp, allowing for reading activities across multiple texts – but the story also stands alone.
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